Tucson Area 2011

Our last night in Why, Mom and I went to the first night of the Old Time Fiddlers Contest. There were lots of really awesome fiddlers. A young boy about 12 years old was terrific. He had just won the contest in Yuma a week or so earlier. But our favorite was a couple from Minnesota who had been married 48 years and wrote all their own songs. They wrote one called the Minnesota Winter Blues. I've got the frozen toes and fingers, Minnesota winter blues. Their songs were all funny with lots of verses. Another couple that had been married 60 years, she played the fiddle like Charlie Daniels and he sang "I just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore". It was hilarious! Then we headed for Tucson the next morning.


Fri, Feb. 4th - Wed, Feb. 9th



Visiting Judy who I went to school with 2nd grade thru high school graduation. It had been 20 years since my mom had seen her.










She and her husband live on a community ranch called Avalon Gardens near Tubac about 30 miles south of Tucson. They raise garden produce to sell and have lots of animals. They make goat cheese and yogurt from the goat milk to sell.

They also make all kinds of beautiful, one-of-a-kind jewelry and artwork from gourds and seeds and cactus and other things they collect from the desert. The three amigos were overseeing the art studio as we were getting a tour.

We spent a day in Sabino Canyon on the northeast edge of Tucson. The only way into the canyon is to ride this trolley or walk. They do allow bikes before 9:00 or after 5:00 when the trolleys are not running, no autos.

We rode the trolley into the canyon and hiked back out about three and a half miles. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was awesome.

In the first picture, the trolley was letting us off at the end of the road. There were trails from here that you could hike almost to the top and then follow them back along the ridge. We opted to just hike back down the road.

There are nine bridges like this on the way into the canyon. A couple we talked to said they hiked the road once when the water was running over all the bridges. They had to remove their shoes and roll up their pants at each bridge and wade thru.

The guide said the rock outcropping at the top of this hill is 40 stories high. This was a wonderful outing. I will definitely do it again, if we get the chance.

Mom and John just finishing up the hike.

Here is my better half showing his better half as he looks out over Tucson. We hiked to the top of Sentinel Peak to watch the sunset.

Mom opted not to go all the way to the top, as it was getting dark and there was a lot of loose rock on the trail.

If you look closely, you can see her at the right edge of the red, white and blue "A" on the side of the hill for Arizona State. In the background is old and new downtown Tucson.

This is a picture of the "A" from below when we got back down where she was waiting for us.

Another day we went to the Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures in Tucson. It was totally fascinating. Mom and I spent three and a half hours here. John even spent an hour and a half before he headed to the car to wait for us.

This is Mom looking at some of the Christmas displays. The picture above shows the front of the house removed, the roof opened to see in the attic and even a little playhouse to go with the miniature house. They had stuff from different countries and cultures and fantasy stuff like dragons, frogs, witch houses for Halloween, etc.

These little dolls were each inside a little glass dome about two inches high. Their heads were made from a kernel of wheat with a little face painted on each one.

This one is an old English Pub. There was a stinger of fresh-caught fish on the kitchen counter, a rabbit hanging from a hook, a couple of pheasants laying on the table waiting to be cleaned and mugs of beer on the bar.

The realism was hard to believe. The little books actually had pages and stories that you could read and the jars of homecanned goods appeared to have actual carrots, pickles and such in them. It all just made me want to be a little girl again, so I could play with doll houses.

Moving on to Phoenix tomorrow to visit family and friends. Will be a couple weeks before I have another blog.

Tarra